Coup Atlas Research Database
← Back to explorer
77101192012ConspiracyMilitary coup

Bangladesh, 2012 — military coup conspiracy

Bangladesh (BGD)South Asia, AsiaJanuary 19, 2012

Event Summary

This entry is coded 19 January 2012, corresponding to the foiled 2011 to 2012 Bangladeshi coup plot against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. On 19 January 2012 the army's Inter-Services Public Relations announced that the Bangladesh Army had prevented a coup against Hasina's Awami League government, organized by current and former mid-ranking officers together with a Bangladeshi expatriate living in Hong Kong and, according to the army, backed by a faction of the banned pan-Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir. The plot, led by the fugitive Major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque, was said to aim at establishing Islamic rule, though some participants framed their motives as nationalist and anti-India.

It had been detected in December 2011 after a lieutenant-colonel was arrested on 15 December and the plan, which reportedly involved surrounding key sites in Dhaka, unraveled. Two retired officers were arrested and about sixteen current and former officers were implicated, while the leaders fled. The 19 January 2012 coding matches the army's public announcement.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: Hasina's government and the army announced the plot foiled and pursued the plotters
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (target)
fugitive Major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque
expatriate businessman Ishraq Ahmed and an alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir faction

Sources

On 19 January 2012 the Inter-Services Public Relations announced that the Bangladesh Army had prevented a military coup against the government of Sheikh Hasina, organised by current and former army officers and an individual living overseas in Hong Kong, potentially backed by Hizb ut-Tahrir.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 2011 Bangladeshi coup attempt open source ↗
The army declared the arrest of two retired officers and said sixteen current and former officers had been implicated and that the leader, Major Ziaul, had fled.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia: 2011 Bangladeshi coup attempt open source ↗
An army spokesman pinned the heinous conspiracy on mid-ranking officers with extreme religious views and a network of shadowy interests overseas, with at least two retired officers arrested and over a dozen others implicated while one prominent officer went fugitive.
SOURCE REVIEWED TIME: Behind Bangladesh's Failed Coup Plot open source ↗
Two plotters admitted links with the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir, and the plot was detected after lieutenant colonel Ehsan Yusuf was arrested on 15 December 2011 and interrogated, revealing the involvement of then-major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haque and businessman Ishraq Ahmed.
SOURCE REVIEWED Eurasia Review / SATP: Bangladesh, Failed Coup, Analysis open source ↗

Editorial Note

Coded 19 Jan 2012 matches the army's public announcement of the foiled plot exactly (plot detected Dec 2011). Verified as the 2012 Bangladeshi coup plot. First Bangladesh record in the run.

Cross-Reference

Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
77101192012

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Hasina's government and the army announced the plot foiled and pursued the plotters.

Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

The Age

“Bangladesh military foils overthrow plot: THE WORLD TOUR - COUP ATTEMPT,” January 21, 2012

The Times of India

“Plotters kept Bangla army brass in the loop on govt overthrow? [South Asia],” January 22, 2012

The Frontier Post

“Army coup bid against Bangladesh PM,” January 22, 2012

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

Know something about this event?
Tips are reviewed against sources before anything is added.